Delivery and/or service vehicles such as, for example, trucks, vans and cars may include an assembly having trays positioned on one or more racks located in an interior of the delivery or service vehicle. Items such as, for example, tools, parcels and/or packages are stored on the trays temporarily while the vehicle is being driven to a selected destination, such as, for example, the home or office of a client or a loading dock or storefront of recipient. A driver of the vehicle or other personnel may remove the item or items from the tray once he or she arrives at the selected destination by accessing the item or items through one or more doors of the vehicle, such as, for example, rear doors of a van or truck. Some vehicles include trays that slide relative to the rack to facilitate accessing the item or items by the driver of the vehicle or other personnel. That is, once one or more doors of the vehicle are opened, the driver or other personnel may slide the trays relative to the rack such that the item or items are conveniently located outside of the interior of the vehicle.
Spacing between adjacent trays is typically pre-determined according to the configuration of the rack, which typically includes equally spaced slot or other means configured to engage a tray such that the trays are equally spaced up and down the rack. Spacing between adjacent trays may therefore be inadequate to accommodate large items or, alternatively, may be greater than necessary when relatively small items are positioned on one of the trays. While some conventional rack and tray assemblies included in vehicles may increase the spacing between adjacent trays by removing one or more trays to accommodate large items, such assemblies lack a means to reduce the spacing between adjacent trays or increase the spacing between adjacent trays without removing one or more of the trays. As a result, the spacing between adjacent trays is often pre-determined according to the design of the rack, rather than the size and shape of the item or items placed on the tray. That is, spacing between adjacent trays cannot be modified according to characteristics of the items placed on the trays, but is instead determined by the configuration of the rack and tray.
Furthermore, in vehicles that include trays that slide relative to the rack, the trays tend to slide at undesired times such as, for example, when the delivery vehicle makes a sharp turn and/or when the vehicle comes to an abrupt stop, which causes the item or items positioned on the tray to move relative to the tray and/or fall off the tray and onto the floor of the vehicle, potentially damaging the item or items. While some rack and tray assemblies used in vehicles include a locking mechanism to prevent the trays for sliding relative to the rack, the locking mechanisms used encompass only a small portion of the tray, thus making accessing the locking mechanism difficult and/or may require two hands to operate. For example, conventional locking mechanisms include a handle having a thumb release on one side of the handle. In order to lock and/or unlock the tray from the rack, the driver of the vehicle or other personnel is required to apply the thumb release, typically by pressing the thumb release down. Due to the small size and remote location of the thumb release, accessing and/or pressing the thumb release is often difficult, especially when the driver or other personnel is carrying other items.
Still further, trays of conventional rack and tray assemblies used in vehicles often include handles that can only be opened by pushing or pulling a handle in one direction. This makes it difficult to open a tray when holding other items. For example, it may be difficult to open a tray by lifting or pulling a handle upwardly if the driver or other personnel is carrying other items. This disclosure describes improvements over these prior art technologies.